The problems of development of small business: the experience of empirical research (based on the materials of the Republic of Tatarstan)

Abstract

This article considers the essence and features of the phenomenon of small business in the region based on the results of the author’s research, highlights the problems of its functioning, the measures of state support, gives the opinions of the respondents and the expert community on topical issues of improving entrepreneurial practices. In a market economy small business is a support for the development of the middle class, helps reduce differentiation in the welfare of different groups of people, it is a catalyst for scientific progress, innovation, social goods and services, as well as job creation, provides opportunities for self-realization of people with special entrepreneurship. In developed countries, the share of small enterprises exceeds more than half of the number of enterprises in the country on the whole, and the share of employed citizens in the small business sector often amounts to 60-70% or more. In the Russian economy, unfortunately, small business does not play such a prominent role, there is a low level of its innovation. This is facilitated by a number of factors, and above all, the lack of effective mechanisms for interaction between the state and business. Entrepreneurs rate the following barriers among the main ones that bar the development of small business: bureaucratic obstacles, lack of equality in the distribution of government orders, high rental rates, high taxes, a large number of scheduled and unscheduled inspections. Still relevant is the task of state support of small business, which requires a targeted applied sociological research that identifies the state and problems of small business in the monitoring mode.